


Better This Time

by Ralstonia



Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-16
Updated: 2016-06-01
Packaged: 2018-02-25 14:58:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 16,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2625959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ralstonia/pseuds/Ralstonia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Given the chance to improve his relationship with Benny Dean is making sure that everything is going to be better this time but this is not an easy task as several challenges has to be overcome first.</p>
<p>Sequel to <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/882836/chapters/1700303">You Make Me Want To Do Better</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Would you calm down?!” Dean hissed at his cell phone.

“I just don’t think this is a good idea,” Sam told Dean over the phone. No Sam definitely was not thrilled about the idea of Dean meeting up with Benny. 

“I don’t understand what your problem is?” Dean said while absentmindedly taping his foot against the table leg on the hideous gray diner table. 

“Haven’t Benny proven himself yet?” Dean asked. “After all that happened?” 

“He’s still a vampire,” Sam sighed. 

“You know what I don’t want to listen to more of this,” Dean snapped. 

“Dean…” Sam tried to reason. 

“I’ll call you later,” Dean said hanging up. 

Dean had promised Benny that this time they would keep in touch no matter what Sam thought. Dean still blamed himself for all that had happened to Benny after he had told him that he shouldn’t contact him anymore and Dean still wanted to make up for that mistake. 

Maybe this time as a little more than just friends. 

Dean smiled as he thought about the first time Benny had kissed him. Dean had been very surprised having no idea that Benny felt that way but the more they had kissed the more Dean had realized that he felt the same too. 

Dean looked at the clock that was hanging behind the counter. Benny was a little late for their meeting in this diner and though it probably was nothing Dean couldn’t help but worry a bit. Thinking about how much trouble Benny had gotten into before had turned Dean into a bit of a mother hen. 

Dean didn’t have to worry for very long as Benny showed up a few minutes smiling widely when he saw Dean. 

Dean couldn’t help but smile himself noticing that Benny finally looked like himself again dressed in his usual clothing without any bloodstains or bruises. 

“Sorry I’m late,” Benny said apologetically. “I couldn’t find the place.” 

“Don’t sweat it,” Dean smiled getting up from his seat to hug the vampire. “It’s not like I was worrying or anything.” 

Benny returned Dean’s embrace nuzzling against his shoulder.

“It’s nice having someone who worries about me,” Benny mumbled before reluctantly loosening his grip. 

“So…” Dean said as they both sat down at the diner table. “I was thinking about getting us a room at that motel a bit further down the street for starters. That’s if that is okay with you.” 

“Yeah that sounds great but um…” Benny said chewing on his bottom lip. 

“But what?” Dean smiled. “You can ask me for anything.” 

“I’m hungry,” Benny said. “And I was just hoping to do something about that pretty soon.” 

“I’ve got that figured out too,” Dean smirked. “There’s a small hospital at the other end of the town, pretty sure there’s an overworked orderly that might look the other if you’re a little friendly to them.” 

“Thanks,” Benny smiled hesitantly reaching for Dean’s hand that was resting on the table. 

“Didn’t I promise that I would take care of you?” Dean said taking Benny’s hand twining their fingers. “I’ll make sure you got everything you need.” 

*

In a town of this size the other end wasn’t more than 10 minutes away when driving. 

“You just stay here,” Dean said before stepping out of the Impala ignoring Benny’s protest. 

Dean wasn’t thrilled about leaving Benny in the car but he wasn’t able to ignore the problems that might arise from bringing a hungry vampire into a building where there potentially were bleeding people either. 

It took some time looking around before Dean finally found the storage where the blood supply was kept. 

Dean managed to fill half the bag pack he had brought before he was noticed.

“What do you think you’re doing?” an orderly said looking annoyed at Dean. 

“Keeping the patients safe,” Dean said pulling out his fake FBI badge and showing it to the orderly not even bothering to turn around. “There have been reports of contaminated blood from several places in the health services.” 

“Aha,” the orderly said clearly not buying Dean’s story. “And what might I ask is the source of this contamination?”

“A food additive,” Dean said turning around flashing the orderly, a crew-cut guy in his thirties, the most convincing smile he could manage. “A new type, it appears that it is stored in the blood and this wasn’t noticed before many donors had already given blood.”

“I see,” the orderly said. “And do you have a warrant stating that the contaminated blood should be retrieved Agent casual attire?” 

No Dean did not have anything that he could pass of as a fake warrant and the fact that he wasn’t dressed in something that looked remotely like something the Feds would wear and his lie was pretty thin he knew he wouldn’t be able to convince the orderly. 

Dean then decided to resort to plan B. 

“Listen,” he said sticking a hand into his pocked pulling out a creased 100-dollar bill. “I’m sure you’re a decent guy that wouldn’t want anyone to get sick so maybe you could just let me clear out these blood bags.” 

“Well,” the orderly said with a wry smiled snatching the bill from Dean’s hand. “We can’t having anyone getting sick. Keep up the good work _agent_.” The orderly then left leaving Dean to fill his bag pack without any further complications. 

When Dean returned to the Impala he found Benny keeping himself occupied with poking about in the glove compartment looking through all Dean’s old tapes not even noticing Dean’s preference for outdated technology. 

“You have a peculiar taste in music,” Benny said turning a Led Zeppelin tape around in his hands. 

“Excuse me?!” Dean said taking the tape from Benny with a playful smile on his lips. “I have a very awesome taste in music.” 

Benny looked at him with a raised eyebrow. 

“Well I guess I’ll just to educate you,” Dean chuckled as he turned on the engine before putting the Led Zeppelin tape into the tape player. “Since you obviously have no clue about music.”

“Oh it’s you who don’t have a clue about music,” Benny smiled. 

“Guess we just have to listen to a lot of music to figure that out,” Dean said as he drove out of the hospital’s parking lot.

“Don’t mind that,” Benny said smiling happily. 

*

The last thing on Dean’s agenda for the day was to check into the motel he had been talking about earlier. 

It was a pretty decent room compared to the usual standards of the motels rooms Dean usually had. There weren’t any holes in the wallpaper or suspicious stains on the carpet and there was a small fridge which was pretty important if you wanted a place to store blood for a longer period of time. 

The most unusual thing to Dean was the king sized bed in the middle of the room. Dean wasn’t used to sharing a bed with anyone but it was a change he was looking forward to. 

“So this is how our life looks so far,” Dean said dumping his duffel bag next to the bed. “It’s not much but…”

“It’s perfect,” Benny said before Dean made any more apologies. 

“Really,” Benny said when Dean looked skeptically at him. “I’ve got you that’s pretty much all I need.” Again he hesitantly reached for Dean’s hand.

“If you think I’m enough,” Dean said taking Benny’s hand. 

“I believe it is,” Benny said willingly stepping closer as Dean pulled him in for a gentle kiss.


	2. Chapter 2

Vampires were odd creatures. They didn’t have any heartbeat, didn’t have any pulse but they were still breathing. Dean could clearly feel this as Benny’s chest rose and fell rhythmically under the arm he had wrapped around the sleeping vampire. 

During the last couple of days Benny had been very busy unintentionally debunking every myth about vampires being scary monsters. Benny was both a cuddler and a handholder appearing to be happiest with Dean spooning against him holding a hand on his stomach. 

Dean looked at the clock standing on the bedside table. It was almost 10 in the morning. Unlike Dean Benny liked sleeping in which really shouldn’t have been that much of a surprise. Vampires were nocturnal creatures that usually slept during the day and of course Benny wasn’t any different. 

Though he woke up a lot earlier Dean just let Benny sleep. He didn’t have the heart to wake him thinking that he deserved all the sleep he wanted especially since Benny’s nights were plagued by nightmares. 

Almost every night for the last couple of days Dean had been woken up by Benny twisting and turning in his sleep whimpering. Dean would then gently stroke Benny’s arm whispering that he was safe. That seemed to help and usually Benny kept sleeping though Dean had woken him once. Benny had looked at him blinking in confusion before burying his face in Dean’s chest who in turn had tightened his grip around the vampire. 

Dean never asked what Benny’s nightmares was about though he had some idea of what it might be. Benny had had his share of nightmare inducing experiences like purgatory, watching his girlfriend die twice and a week at the mercy of a couple of sadistic hunters. Dean didn’t want to force Benny to talk about any of this instead waiting for if he even wanted to share any of these things with him. 

Dean ran a hand through Benny short hair. Benny sighed turning around in his sleep nuzzling against Dean’s shoulder. Dean had begun to like these slow mornings where he couldn’t do anything except holding a sleeping vampire in his arms. The peace and quiet was so different from how his life usually was. His life was hectic and though there were periods where nothing happened these periods were rarely relaxing. 

Dean moved his hand down Benny’s back stopping where his t-shirt had curled up to straighten the fabric out over the bare skin. Though Benny liked cuddling anything involving touching underneath the clothes made him tense up. He never told Dean to stop but Dean figured that he ought to keep his hands on the right side of the clothes. 

Another half hour like this passed before the sound of a cell phone buzzing disturbed the peace. Reluctantly Dean got out of bed to fumble though the pockets in his jeans before he found his cell phone where Sam’s number was shown on the display. 

“Yeah?” Dean said. 

“I found a case,” Sam said. 

“Oh,” Dean said. 

“In Wyoming,” Sam continued. “Two people found mauled in a room looked from the inside with no sign of forced entry.”

“Sounds like our thing,” Dean said looking at Benny who had been woken up as well and was now slowly moving to sit up looking sleepily at Dean. 

“Yeah and I would like your help,” Sam said. “If you aren’t too busy with something else.” 

“Relax I’ll be there,” Dean said not able to ignore the tone in Sam’s voice that clearly told that Sam wouldn’t be happy if Dean declined a hunt to spent time nursing a vampire. 

“See you later then,” Sam said before Dean hung up. 

“That was my brother,” Dean said when Benny looked questioningly at him. “He found a case so I’ll have to leave for few days if that’s okay?”

“Of course it’s okay,” Benny smiled. “You can’t stay here and babysit me forever.” 

“You sure?” Dean smirked. “Cause you seem to get into a lot of trouble when I’m not around.” 

“Up yours,” Benny laughed. “Go save the world.” 

“I’ll even try to be quick about saving the world so I can get back to you,” Dean said as he was getting dressed. 

“So I’ve got the room connected to a credit card so you don’t have to think about that,” he said being the pragmatic guy that he was. “By the way do you have any ID at all?” 

“Not since I left Carencro,” Benny said. “Never got to make new ones after that.” 

“We’ll get you some new ones when I get back,” Dean smiled pulling on his jacket and shoving a few belongings into his duffel back. 

“I’ll try to get back as quickly as I can,” Dean said a bit more seriously stepping closer to the bed leaning down to give Benny a gentle kiss.

“Don’t think about it,” Benny said. “I’ll be fine.” 

“I’ll hurry anyway,” Dean smiled before heading for the door. 

*

Of course Benny didn’t want Dean to leave but he didn’t want to say that. He knew that Dean would have to leave if a hunt showed up and in some way Benny wouldn’t want it any other way. After all the reason he fell in love with Dean in the first place was because he was someone who was determined to do the right thing and protect people no matter how difficult it was. 

That didn’t mean that Benny liked being alone but he would try to manage.

There wasn’t much to do in the small motel room besides from watching television. That wasn’t too bad to begin with but late in the afternoon it started to become a bit monotonous. Without Dean the bed felt way too big almost endlessly immense compared to the tiny mattress Benny used to sleep on and uncomfortably soft too. Benny had a bit trouble with remembering the last time he slept in an actual bed and now he couldn’t get used to it. 

It was difficult to fall asleep in the empty feeling bed but eventually Benny fell into a troubled sleep. Later that night Benny woke up screaming not able to figure out where he was. It took him several minutes to get his breathing back under control as he slowly realized that he wasn’t tied up or in purgatory or someplace much worse. 

Benny’s legs trembled under him as he walked to the bathroom to splash some water in his face. He looked at the dark reflection of his face in the bathroom mirror taking a few deep breaths before letting his fangs emerge. Benny stared at the fang that was growing back after it had been pulled out by those insane hunters. It was already almost half the size of the rest of the fangs and it was a reminder that all the bad things that had happened was over. Still Benny felt like hell.

Benny shambled to the small fridge groaning at the painfully sharp light as he fumbled after a bag of blood. He slid down to sit next to fridge feeling his nerves calm down just a bit as soon as the blood touched his lips. Still it took three bags of blood before he started to fell remotely better. 

Benny went back to bed but wasn’t able to fall asleep again. The nightmares wasn’t so bad when Dean was there. It was soothing having someone lying next to you and having Dean had made it easier to get through the nights but now that Benny was alone he wasn’t able to calm down again. 

After tossing and turning for some time Benny momentarily gave up on trying to sleep sitting up in the bed rubbing his hands over his face. He wanted to call Dean so badly just wanted to hear his voice but he didn’t want Dean to worry. He was pretty convinced that Dean would drop everything he was doing if Benny asked him and Benny didn’t want that. He didn’t want to turn into a burden for Dean. He had to get this under control himself and find something else that could distract him. 

There wasn’t much to do in the small motel room besides watching television and feeling the walls closing in. 

*

Benny felt ill when he got up the next morning deciding that he couldn’t stand being confined in the motel room all alone anymore. The weather was nice anyway that is nice if you’re a vampire with thick gray clouds and not even the tiniest ray of sunlight. It wasn’t even necessary to wear sunglasses so it was the perfect excuse to get outside this room that felt even more empty then yesterday though it felt like the walls had moved several inches inwards. 

Not knowing many places in this town Benny went to the diner close by where he and Dean had been eating dinner at for the last couple of days since that was somewhat familiar now. 

Vampires couldn’t eat any normal human food without it felt like eating dirt and it made them sick afterwards but beverages were oddly enough fine. This coffee still tasted a bit like dirt though Benny was pretty sure that that didn’t have anything to do with him it was just really terrible coffee. 

“You want another refill sweetie?” asked the waitress a young woman with dark skin and long curly hair that was gathered in a ponytail.

“Yes please um…” Benny looked at the waitress’ nametag. “Debbie.” 

There weren’t many people in the diner at this time of day after the morning rush but before lunch time. 

“How come your boyfriend isn’t here today?” Debbie asked.

“What?” Benny sputtered the question taking him completely off guard. 

“Oh I just thought that you two were a couple since you’re always here together and…” Debbie tried to explain as she must have seen Dean and Benny holding hands several times the past few days making the obvious conclusion from that observation. 

“It’s just pretty new,” Benny smiled sheepishly. “I haven’t really been thinking about him as my boyfriend yet. It’s still a bit weird to think about it I guess”

“Weird in a good way or weird in a bad way?” Debbie asked. 

“A good way,” Benny smiled. It was a very long time since he had had anything like his relationship with Dean. 

“He looks cute,” Debbie said. “Are you two planning on staying in town?” 

“Maybe,” Benny said. “Guess we’re still trying to figure out how it’s going to work.” 

“Hope you’ll like it here if you decide to stay it’s a nice town,” Debbie smiled before continuing with her work.

It did really look like a nice town. Benny wouldn’t mind staying somewhere nice for once.


	3. Chapter 3

Benny stared into another cup of coffee from the diner. The last couple of days had been long for him. Not that most days since purgatory hadn’t been long but it had helped to have some kind of goal. First to track down and wipe out his old nest bringing them to justice and make sure that any of them would never be able to hurt anyone ever again. 

After that the goal had been to find Elizabeth. That had been surprisingly easy and without long Benny had gotten himself an everyday life with work and someone to look after. Benny had liked the peaceful time he had had in Carencro. The days were much easier to get through when they had some structure and Benny had ended up enjoying the routine he eventually ended up with. 

Benny had been devastated when he had been forced to leave Carencro. He had finally managed to build a somewhat stable existence after almost a century with a life filled with torment, guilt and death. But eventually his old life had caught up to him and after leaving Carencro he hadn’t had any idea about where to go. 

He had ended up traveling more or less aimlessly across the country the only goal being to find somewhere where it at least would be easy to get a stable supply of blood. That had turned out to be a difficult task that eventually had ended up with him getting caught by hunters. 

Benny had been convinced that the only way to get out of that would be with a ticket straight back to purgatory and as his life had been spiraling downwards with nothing but hunger and nightmares he had reached a point where he really didn’t mind actually he just wanted the pain to stop. After all Benny had done some horrible things too once maybe he didn’t deserve a second chance. But again Dean had showed up to help him. 

Dean that had helped him out of purgatory who had helped him when his plans to take down his old nest hadn’t gone as well as he had hoped and who had believed him when other hunters had thought he had killed someone. Even when he had thought he would never see Dean again he had somehow found his way to help Benny out of trouble once more. 

Benny was starting to think that by now he probably couldn’t do without Dean anymore. He didn’t want to either he was happy with Dean still amazed that the man he had started developing feelings for a while back felt the same for him. 

If Benny could have it his way he would be perfectly fine with staying in this town trying to build a new life with Dean. 

After a few days on his own Benny was gradually starting to develop a couple of routines making the days a bit easier to get through then they were in the beginning. These routines usually involved going for a short walk that ended with a cup of coffee at the diner late in the morning or late in the evening where there wouldn’t be that many people. Benny didn’t like being surrounded by too many people but there was something comforting about listening to the quiet chatter from a few patrons instead of the suffocating silence he felt when he was alone. 

“Aren’t you ever going to get something else then coffee? Maybe something to eat?” Debbie asked. By now Benny had gotten familiar with most of the staff that worked on these particular shifts. One of them was the kind waitress Debbie who didn’t mind chatting with Benny whenever she wasn’t occupied with other patrons. 

“No thanks,” Benny said apologetically. “I’m a bit picky.”

“But you still drink that?” Debbie said raising an eyebrow looking at the coffee cup. 

“I’m difficult. So um had a busy day?” Benny said in an attempt to change the subject. 

“Pretty busy,” Debbie smiled. “At this rate I’m going to have earned enough for collage in no time.” 

“What do you plan on studying?” Benny asked.

“Economy,” Debbie said. “I know it sounds boring but it really isn’t, it’s really interesting.”

“I believe you,” Benny smiled. “You sound very passionate about it.” 

“Of course else I wouldn’t be doing it,” Debbie said as she was on her way to take the order of two new patrons. 

“So are your boyfriend going to be back from his business trip any time soon?” she asked when she returned. 

“Shouldn’t be long now,” Benny said. He had made up a story about Dean having to travel a lot for his family’s company and himself being unemployed which wasn’t completely a lie. 

Dean had called a few times during the last couple of days just to make sure that Benny was okay and in the last call he had said that he would be on his way back soon. 

Later when Benny was on his way back to the motel Dean finally called to tell him that he was finished with the hunt and that he would be back before night. 

Benny ended up spending the remaining day lying on the bed staring at a particular crack in the ceiling that was starting to get on his nerves because he it reminded him of a crack in the wall in one of the houses his old nest had occupied once. 

Dean threw the door open when he arrived at the motel sighing as he tossed his duffel bag on the floor.

“Freaking witches,” he said smiling widely kicking of his shoes and removing his jacket as he moved towards the bed.

Benny moved making room for Dean who hurled himself down on the bed.

“You seem awfully cheerful for someone who’ve just been fighting witches,” Benny said. “Thought those were difficult to get rid of.” 

“Then it’s just that much more satisfying when it succeeds,” Dean smiled smugly. “And now I can be here instead… with you.” He moved a bit closer to place a gentle kiss on Benny’s lips. 

“No witches here,” he said. “And I don’t have to listen to my brother’s nagging.”

“You’re brother still doesn’t like me?” Benny asked. 

“Let’s just say he needs a bit more time to get used to you,” Dean said. 

“Where is he by the way? Got the impression that you two were almost inseparable,” Benny said. 

“We do take some time away from each other when we don’t agree on something,” Dean said. “So he’s at our secret lair while I’m here.”

“Your secret lair,” Benny raised an eyebrow. 

“Found this bunker that belonged to some secret group called Men of Letters,” Dean elaborated. “We’ve more or less moved in there. I would have liked to bring you there but Sam…” 

“You don’t have to explain,” Benny said. “I’m just happy that you’re here.”

“Happy to be here,” Dean smirked wrapping an arm around Benny pulling him in for another kiss.

“So you’ve kept yourself out of trouble while I was gone?” Dean asked. 

“You know how trouble seems to like me,” Benny smiled. “But I managed to keep everything under control.”

“Must have been tough,” Dean chuckled kissing Benny again.

“You have no idea,” Benny mumbled against Dean’s lips snuggling further up to him. 

Dean was warm, a heat that felt reassuring making the last few days’ hardship fade away. Benny felt safe in Dean’s arms like felt like he was protected from all the horrible things that had happened. 

“So are you going to tell me more about those witches?” Benny asked. “Never met one don’t know much about them.” 

“All you need to know about witches,” Dean said. “Is that they are a freaking pain in the ass and that they usually get their mojo from hex bags.”

“Uhu,” Benny nodded as he listened to Dean continuing his story and for a moment it felt like nothing bad had ever happened at all.


	4. Chapter 4

“You like it?” Dean asked handing Benny a newly made fake driving license. 

“Looks pretty convincing to me,” Benny smiled approvingly.

“Got all the details right?” Dean asked. 

“Looks like it,” Benny said looking over the information written on the small piece of laminated cardboard. Benjamin Lafitte born April 28th 1974 in Louisiana. The driving license was accompanied by a credit card with the same information. This time Benny had chosen to stick to his real name as he hadn’t had any luck with changing it. 

“1974,” Dean said. “That would make you 38.”

“I was 38 when I was turned,” Benny explained. 

“Forever 38 then,” Dean said. “How old you actually are?”

“Um….” Benny mumbled. “I’m counting… 137.” 

“137!” Dean sputtered. “You’re like ancient.”

“Gee thanks,” Benny said. “Now I don’t feel even more out of place.”

“Sorry,” Dean said wrapping his arms around Benny resting his chin on the vampire’s shoulder. “Does it help a little if I say that you’re a hot 137 year old?”

“A little,” Benny smiled placing his hand on top of Dean’s that was now resting on his stomach twining their fingers. 

“So how about we go out and test if I’ve made a decent credit card and see if we can use it to buy booze?” Dean suggested. 

“I don’t know,” Benny said. “Haven’t touched alcohol since before I met Andrea cause it doesn’t really mix to well with making good decisions.” 

“I can’t be that bad,” Dean tried to argue believing that alcohol could help on even the direst situation though he didn’t want to make Benny do anything he didn’t wanted. “It’ll just make you relax a little and I think we both deserve that.” 

“If you think so,” Benny sighed. “You’re difficult to debate with.”

“That’s cause I’m right,” Dean smirked getting up to put on his jacket waiting as Benny did the same before again taking his hand. 

*

“Two whiskeys and two beers,” Dean ordered. 

The bartender nodded getting the drinks while Dean and Benny got themselves a table in the corner. 

“Cheers,” Dean said raising the whiskey glass. “For making it better this time.” 

A promise Dean intended to keep. This time it was going to be different. 

“Better this time,” Benny said raising the glass to his lips just as Dean did taking a sip of the golden liquid that immediately made him start coughing.

“That burns,” he mumbled. 

“It’s fine,” Dean laughed. “You don’t have to gulp it all down at once. We have all night so just take your.”

After a few more cautious sips the whiskey eventually went down. The beer followed a bit easier and pretty soon Dean and Benny were engaged in a casual conversation as more drinks were ordered. 

The credit card Dean had made worked perfectly fine and Dean couldn’t help but laugh when Benny asked for rum making a joke about vampirates and eventually Benny couldn’t help but laugh too. 

Dean was happy that he had brought Benny with him having been in doubt that it was the right decision when Benny initially had protested but now he was completely convinced it had been a good idea. Benny seemed a lot less tense and damn it if Dean wouldn’t want to do anything to make Benny feel better to make sure he felt safe and comfortable and that he was happy. Especially since Benny made him feel so much happier himself. 

As the evening progressed they ended up sitting closer and closer eventually almost leaning against each other holding hands. Dean was definitely starting to feel the effects of the alcohol convinced that Benny felt it even more as the vampire was practically slouching against him now. 

“Maybe it’s about time we got out of here,” Dean said rubbing his nose against Benny’s temple. Benny hummed in agreement letting Dean drag him to his feet and out into the night. 

The walk back to the motel was slow as they weren’t able to walk very fast with arms wrapped around each other occasionally stopping completely for a kiss or two that slowly was developing into something more. 

It was with slightly shaking hands Dean closed the door behind them when they finally came back to the motel room. Benny felt completely relaxed in Dean’s embrace still Dean wasn’t going to start pushing his limits. Dean would let Benny decide the pace and whether something would happen or not.

Dean tightened his embrace a bit kissing Benny again feeling Benny’s hand crawl under his jacket rubbing his back through the thin fabric of his t-shirt while the other hand tangled in his hair. Dean mimicked Benny’s movements letting a hand move up under Benny’s jacket though moving the other hand down to Benny’s waist gently rubbing his thump in small circles on the shirt covered skin. 

Dean took a small step back waiting for Benny to follow him before taking another step and another until he hit the bed making him tumbling back landing on his ass groaning when Benny landed in his lap. 

Dean moved his hands placing both of them on Benny’s hips curling his fingers into the fabric slowly letting his tongue run over Benny’s soft lips. Benny turned his head to place a few kisses on Dean’s jaw before kissing his throat. Dean sighed tilting his head back making more room for Benny shivering a bit as cold lips moved down his neck.

“You’re warm,” Benny slurred licking the skin before nipping it tightening his grip in Dean’s hair and t-shirt. 

Dean let out a shocked groan when teeth sunk into his skin. Not teeth fangs. 

“Benny?” Dean hissed in pain panic starting to set in. “Benny! Let go! Benny you’re hurting me!”

With great effort Dean shoved Benny of his lap down on the floor yelping when he felt fangs tearing his skin. 

“Benny?” Dean said getting up from the bed taking a cautious step closer.

Benny looked up at Dean like he wasn't a person but a juice steak his lips covered in blood. 

“Benny,” Dean slowly raised his hands defensively up in front of him. “Just calm down.”

With a roar Benny threw himself at Dean snapping after his throat. Dean grabbed Benny’s arms trying to push him back. Luckily Benny was pretty unsteady on his feet tumbling down when Dean kicked a foot into Benny’s shin. Dean used the opportunity to grab the lamp from the nightstand hammering it into Benny’s head efficiently knocking the vampire unconscious. 

For a moment Dean was just staring at Benny trying to comprehend what had happened as well as catching his breath before his instincts started to kick in. He found a pair of handcuffs the he used to cuff Benny to one of the bedpost in case that Benny wasn’t himself when he woke up again. 

Dean went into the bathroom to wash the wound on his neck. It had almost stopped bleeding and for a moment Dean was thanking whatever lucky star he might have that Benny hadn’t nicked any major veins. 

With a shaky sigh Dean sat down on the floor in adequate safety distance from Benny leaning against the bed. He wasn’t sure of what to do but he was at least sure that he couldn’t do much before Benny woke. Dean closed his eyes knowing that he wouldn’t be able to sleep. 

*

Dean opened his eyes when he heard Benny stir and whimper looking attentively at the vampire. Benny gasped pulling desperately at his restrains as he opened his eyes panting heavily. He looked confused and scared until he noticed Dean making realize where he was. 

“Hey,” Dean said moving a bit closer as Benny seemed to be himself again looking more and more horrified as his memories were starting to come back. 

“Did I do that?” Benny said looking at the wound in Dean’s neck.

“Well…” Dean mumbled. 

“Sorry,” Benny said with a thin voice turning his face away trying to hide it in his sleeve. 

“It’s okay,” Dean said trying to comfort him. “It was an accident and nothing serious happened.” He carefully placed a hand on Benny’s shoulder.

“Don’t touch me!” Benny hissed making Dean abruptly pull his hand back. 

“I’m sorry I’m so sorry,” Benny sobbed curling into a ball. 

“It’s okay,” Dean said soothingly.

“I could have killed you,” Benny sniffled.

“Don’t think so,” Dean said fumbling after the keys to the handcuffs in his pocket. “I don’t think you can beat me,” he said with a small smile in a hopeless attempt to lighten the mood. 

“Really it was my own fault,” he then said more quietly as he unlocked the handcuffs. “You told me that you shouldn’t drink and I should have listened.” 

“I’m sorry I’m so sorry,” Benny repeated the words barely audible. 

“It’s fine,” Dean said reaching out hesitantly trying to place a hand on Benny’s shoulder again. This time Benny didn’t protest. 

“It’s all going to be just fine,” Dean said gently rubbing Benny’s shoulder. “It was just a little slip up and it’s never happening again.” 

Dean moved closer wrapping an arm around Benny who let Dean pull him into his embrace. 

“Cause I’m going to make sure it’ll never happen again,” Dean promised. “I’ll be right here to keep you on the right track okay? You don’t have to worry cause I’ll make sure something like this never happens again.”

Benny turned in Dean’s embrace burying his face in Dean’s chest clutching Dean’s arms crying quietly. 

“Everything is going to be okay,” Dean said trying not to think about what would have happened if it had been someone else Benny had decided to chew on. 

Dean couldn’t do anything but hold Benny in his arms listening to him sobbing repeating sorry over and over again. Eventually the crying turned into occasional sniffles. 

“I’m really sorry,” Benny said looking at Dean’s face. “I just… there ain’t any excuse for it.”

“I forgive you,” Dean said wiping away a tear. “I know it was an accident and my fault cause I didn’t listen. I’m going to make sure you stay stone cold sober from now on.” 

Benny sniffled hiding his face in Dean’s shoulder. 

“I’m can’t believe how lucky I am having you,” he mumbled. 

“I think I’m the lucky one,” Dean said. “You’ve forgiven my mistakes so of course I’ll forgive yours.” 

Dean pulled Benny a bit closer. They were probably both going to make more mistakes but Dean was convince that it wouldn’t be anything that they wouldn’t be able to work out in the end this time.


	5. Chapter 5

“What the hell happened to your neck,” Sam said looking at the huge red wound on Dean’s neck that still hadn’t healed much even after several days. Dean had returned to the bunker about half an hour ago having only now had the opportunity to say hallo to Sam and now Sam was staring at him as if he had a hideous alien attached to his neck.

“Um…” Dean mumbled not able to make up a convincing lie.

“Did he bite you!” Sam then shouted having put two and two together. 

“It was an accident,” Dean tried to explain. 

“An accident!” Sam snorted. “Did he fall fangs first into your neck or something?” 

“Would it help if I said yes,” Dean said defensively. 

“I can’t believe you,” Sam groaned rubbing a hand over his face. “A vampire tried to eat you and you call it an accident. How thick-headed can you actually be?! It’s not an accident that’s just how vampires are.” 

“Oh come on,” Dean yelled starting to get angry. “You know perfectly well that there are vampires who don’t want to hurt people they just can’t control it sometimes.”

“Exactly!” Sam shouted. “They can’t control it! When do you get it? Benny is dangerous no matter how nice he is trying to be. You know that and you should know better than being together with a monster.”

“That’s rich coming from someone who banged a demon,” Dean hissed. 

Sam immediately closed his mouth for a moment just standing there before turning on his heals going back to his room slamming the door behind him. 

Dean knew that it was a low blow knowing perfectly fine that it wasn’t just because Sam’s relationship with a demon had resulted in the apocalypse. Sam had trusted Ruby being convinced she was different than all the other demons. He had probably even loved her and in return she had betrayed his trust and broken his heart. 

Sam had been a lot less forgiven to monsters after that only giving very few a chance to explain themselves. 

For a moment Dean considered if he should try to talk to Sam again but figured that Sam might need to be alone with his thoughts for a while. Instead Dean went to his own room trying to get lost in the tranquil routine he went through while maintaining his weapons. 

*

Benny couldn’t sleep that night. Even after several days he still felt horrible for having bitten Dean and it felt like no apology could make up for it and no matter how many times Dean had said that it was okay and just a little misstep and it was Dean’s own fault it didn’t change how bad Benny felt about it. 

Benny rolled onto his side. When he closed his eyes he could still taste Dean’s blood, feel it on his lips. It wasn’t that he hadn’t had Dean’s blood before but that had been when Dean had given permission. It was something else with taking it by force making Benny feel like something he didn’t wanted to be. He didn’t want to be like that again. 

There wasn’t anything more addictive then fresh, warm human blood and just the thought of all those things Benny usually would have done to get it made him feel sick and weak. 

With a huff Benny rolled onto his back staring up at the ceiling. Staring at that damned crack in the ceiling. Benny decided that he couldn’t stand looking at that crack one more second getting up to do something about it. With a bit of fumbling and some paper, two fishhooks and a small knife he manage to cover up the crack. 

Feeling oddly relieved that the crack now was hidden Benny went back to bed trying to sleep.

He couldn’t believe how lucky he was to have found someone like Dean who would forgive him for doing something so horrible. Slowly Benny drifting into sleep promising himself that he would never bite anyone again and with Dean’s help he felt confident that he could do it. 

*

There was a soft knock on Dean’s door. 

“Yes,” he said looking up at the door that was slowly opened by his brother. 

Sam was looking down at the ground his back hunched over like he always did when he felt guilty about something. 

“I um,” he said quietly. “I want to apologize. It’s just… I trusted a monster once and it ended really bad and I just don’t want you to make the same mistake. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Apology accepted,” Dean said. “And I guess I understand where you’re coming from. Won’t you just believe me when I say that Benny really is different?”

“I really want to,” Sam said sitting down on the edge of Dean’s bed. “It’s just very difficult when he bites you.”

“That really was an accident,” Dean said. “And it was my fault. I thought everything was going great so we should celebrate with a drink and...”

“You gave alcohol to a vampire!” Sam exclaimed.

“Um yeah,” Dean mumbled. In retrospect that really had been a bad idea. 

“So it’s actually you who’s a bad influence on him and not the other way around,” Sam snorted. 

“That’s me,” Dean said smiling bitterly. “Making other people make bad choices.” 

“So does this mean you’re going to be okay with me being together with Benny now?” Dean asked after a moment of silence. 

“And he feels really bad about the biting thing just so you know it,” he quickly added. “And it’s not like I’m pretending that he haven’t done bad things in his past but he really is trying to change and do better this time.” 

“Well it’s not like I don’t know anything about wanting the chance to make up for the mistakes you’ve made,” Sam said. 

“So I’ll give him a chance,” he said with a small smile. 

“That’s really a relief,” Dean sighed. “Cause…” 

“I know,” Sam said knowing how hard it was for his brother to get such words across his lips. “He means a lot to you right?” 

“Yeah,” Dean mumbled.

“But just promise you’ll keep an eye on him,” Sam said a bit more sternly. “Just in case.”

“I actually don’t think he needs a babysitter,” Dean said. “He was doing perfectly fine before I decided to meddle but if it’ll make you sleep better then I promise that I’ll look after him.” 

“I appreciate that,” Sam said getting up for the bed. “I hope you’re going to be happy together.”

“Thanks,” Dean smiled feeling much better now that Sam was starting to accept Benny not needing to feel like he was choosing sides anymore. 

*

Benny stared into his coffee absentmindedly stirring it though not having neither sugar nor milk in it. There was very few people in the diner tonight the only patrons being him and two elderly men that was eating soup and talking about baseball and the waitress Debbie. 

“You seem to be a bit down in the dumps tonight,” Debbie said. “Something wrong?” 

“Um,” Benny mumbled. 

“Sorry didn’t mean to pry,” Debbie said apologetically. “I just wanted you to know that if you needed to talk about something…” 

“That’s very nice of you,” Benny said offering her a small smile. “It’s just… I just don’t really want to talk about it.” 

“Okay,” Debbie smiled. “But the offer still stands if you change your mind.” 

“Thanks. So haven’t you been here for quite some time today?” Benny asked trying to change the subject. 

“Now that you mention it,” Debbie said looking at the clock behind her. “My shift ended 34 minutes ago but I’m still here cause the girl who is having the next shift is late again.” 

“How wonderful,” Benny said giving Debbie a sympathetic look. 

“At least the company isn’t too bad,” Debbie said looking at the door. 

“There she is,” she sighed. “About damn time.”

Debbie walked towards the newly arrived girl. 

“You can’t keep being late like this,” she scolded. 

“Whatever,” the girl said. 

“No I mean it!” Debbie said angrily. “I am so tired of this.” 

“What are you going to do about it?” the girl said raising an eyebrow. “You can’t fire me.” 

“Oh I can’t?” Debbie said. “I can make sure you get fired if I tell our boss and it’s not like it’s going to be difficult to find someone who can do a better job than you.”

“Well screw this then,” the girl snorted turning on her heels. “This place is a dump anyway so I’m quitting.” 

“Bitch,” Debbie muttered as she slowly walking back to where Benny was sitting. 

“Did you hear that?” she asked. 

“I think everybody did,” Benny smiled. 

“Can’t say I’m sad to see her leaving I’m just a bit tired about the unexpected shift. Oh well the money is welcome.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Benny offered. 

“You know if you can do the job half as good as she could I’m making sure that you get the job,” Debbie said. 

“I would actually like that very much,” Benny said immediately brightening up. 

“Great,” Debbie smiled. “I’ll get you an application and then we’re going to get a talk with the boss tomorrow.”


	6. Chapter 6

Benny couldn’t wait for Dean to get back. Not that there was anything new to that Benny always missed Dean when he was busy elsewhere but this time Benny was looking forward to it a bit more than usual because for once he had some good news to share. 

The words almost jumped out of Benny’s mouth before Dean barely had closed the door to the motel room behind him. 

“I’ve gotten a job!” Benny said smiling widely. 

“What?” Dean responded not having expected Benny telling him something like that. 

“Where?” he added when he had had time to process it. 

“Just at that diner we usually go to,” Benny said. 

“That’s really great,” Dean smiled. “And you’re fine with being alone with humans? You haven’t had any… relapses? I know you’ve done this before I just want to make sure.” 

“I know what you’re thinking,” Benny said. “And no I haven’t felt like eating anyone. Actually I fell a lot better now it helps having something to do that keeps my thoughts preoccupied. I’m going crazy if I just sit here all day.”

“Well then I’m happy for you,” Dean said stepping close enough to give Benny a hug. 

“Thanks,” Benny said. “Besides I don’t want to keep leeching off you.” 

“You really don’t have to think about that,” Dean quickly said. “It’s really not a problem for me.” 

“That’s very nice of you and I appreciate it very much,” Benny said. “But I would very much like to be able provide for myself. It makes me feel a little less helpless.” 

“If it means so much to you,” Dean said. “But don’t hesitate to ask if you need anything.” 

“I know,” Benny smiled. “And I’m probably going to need a few more favors sometime but tonight I’m going to be the one taking you out for dinner for once.” 

“I could get used to that,” Dean said smiling back. 

“Hopefully it’s something that’s going to happen often,” Benny said. After all he really did want to give something back for all the help Dean had given him. 

“Should we get going then?” Dean asked. “I’m starving.” 

“Sure,” Benny said finding his shoes. 

“What have you done to the ceiling?” Dean asked looking at the piece of paper that Benny had pinned to the ceiling. 

“There was just this crack that was bothering me,” Benny mumbled knowing how stupid that actually sounded. 

“You know you could just get another room,” Dean said. 

“I'll manage,” Benny said. “Besides I was kind of hoping to find something a bit more… permanent than a motel room some time.” 

“You mean like a house?” Dean asked. 

“Something a bit smaller,” Benny said. “Got a job at a diner didn’t win the lottery. An apartment maybe. I kind of like it here in this town so…”

“You want to build a life here,” Dean ended the sentence. 

“Yes,” Benny said. “A life with you in it. I know you can’t be here all the time.”

“I’ll be here as much as I possibly can,” Dean promised. “No one deserves a stable life more than you and if I can do anything to help all you have to do is ask.” 

“I’m probably going to need that,” Benny said taking Dean’s hand. “Need you to help me keep my ducks in a row.” 

Dean twined their fingers giving Benny’s hand a gentle squeeze. 

“Come,” he said tugging Benny with him. 

Happily Benny followed him feeling safe knowing that Dean would be there for him. 

*

“So what should I order to avoid getting something that someone has spit in?” Dean asked looking over the menu. 

“I think the fries are pretty safe,” Benny said. “But the soup seems shady. It’s there all day in that pot and who knows what people might put in it when no one is looking.” 

“Fries then,” Dean smiled. “I can live with fries. Is the burger safe?”

“As long as you order it without lettuce,” Benny said. “Just avoid anything that isn’t fried.” 

“Copy that,” Dean said putting down the menu. 

“So don’t anyone ever think it’s weird that you only get coffee,” Dean asked when their order arrived. 

“It might have been mentioned a few times,” Benny shrugged. “But no one bothers to dig deeper into it.” 

“Guess they don’t do very thorough background checks on people here,” Dean said.

“Not really,” Benny smiled. “Pretty much got the job just by being nice and I would prefer not to explain how my last job ended.” 

“This place isn’t that bad,” Dean mumbled around a mouthful of food. “I’ve had worse things to eat and the people here seems nice. That Debbie chick sounds cool.” 

“She’s nice,” Benny said. “I’m just happy to have something to do.”

“So no more watching TV all day anymore,” Dean said.

“There wasn’t anything worth watching anyway,” Benny said. “So it’s not like that’s a big loss.” 

“You obviously have never seen Dr. Sexy M. D.,” Dean said.

“No,” Benny said chuckling at the silly title. “What’s that?”

“Just one of the best things that has ever been on TV,” Dean smiled broadly. “And we’re going to see if there’s any reruns tonight when we get back to the motel.” 

“Sure if you think so,” Benny said. 

“Of course,” Dean smirked. “Someone has to guide you through the jungle of TV-programs to find the good stuff.” 

*

Benny didn’t really care that much for the story about the dramatic and complicated love life of the doctors at the Seattle Mercy Hospital. He did however care about Dean’s arm around him and his head resting on Dean’s shoulder. It felt nice just sitting here with Dean holding his hand and Dean occasionally informing Benny about something important that had happened in a previous episode that was effecting current events. 

“So did you like it?” Dean asked after the two episodes that were aired that night had ended turning off the television. 

“I don’t think that’s my thing,” Benny admitted. 

“You just don’t understand good TV,” Dean chuckled pulling Benny into his arms for a kiss. 

“No it you who have a weird taste,” Benny smiled letting Dean pull him down till they were lying close against each other.

Dean was warm the sound of his heartbeat a steady background noise in Benny’s ears. Benny placed a hand on Dean’s waist while Dean hooked his leg around Benny’s knee. Dean slightly tightened his grip on Benny’s side curling his fingers into the fabric of his shirt pressing his lips against Benny’s again. 

Carefully Dean dragged his tongue over Benny’s bottom lip making Benny instinctively squeeze his lips tightly together not feeling particularly comfortable with where this was going. 

Of course he should have expected that Dean eventually wanted more than just kissing, some part of Benny wanted a little more too, there was just too many bad memories. Still Benny wanted to make Dean happy so couldn’t he at least do this for him?

After a few rapid breaths through his nose Benny cautiously parted his lips. Dean only briefly dipped the tip of his mouth into Benny’s mouth before just pressing his slightly parted lips against Benny’s as an invitation for Benny to set the pace. 

It felt a bit better like this and Benny was infinitely grateful with how patient Dean was. Hesitantly Benny licked Dean’s bottom lip slowly getting used to the new situation. It wasn’t that bad after all and after getting familiar with the sensation it was starting to feel pleasant. 

Still Benny couldn’t help but twitch pulling away with a strangled whimper when Dean’s hand slipped under his shirt.

“You okay?” Dean asked looking worriedly at Benny. “I’m sorry if I stepped over any lines.” 

“It’s okay,” Benny mumbled. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Dean asked. 

“Rather not,” Benny said quietly. Preferably he just wanted to forget all the horrible things that had happened and talking about it felt like the opposite. 

“If you change your mind I’ll listen if you need it,” Dean said gently stroking Benny’s cheek. 

“Thanks,” Benny almost whispered. Dean would help him and Benny would get through this eventually. He just needed a little more time. Time he was convinced Dean was going to give him.


	7. Chapter 7

“And you said that there was a body more like this?” Dean asked the coroner as he and Sam inspected a corpse where the torso was covered with large scratch marks. 

The Winchesters were investigating a couple of mysterious deaths in a small town in the northern Wisconsin. 

“Yes,” the coroner informed. “Actually it was found exactly four weeks ago. I believe it is an animal attack but there is just one thing that I find peculiar.”

“What would that be?” Sam asked. 

“The heart is missing from both bodies,” The coroner said. “There’s nothing unusual in animals eating the organs but what are the odds that only the heart and nothing else has been eaten in both bodies?” 

“Just a weird coincidence,” Dean smiled reassuring. “Happens all the time. Thank you for your time.” 

“So a werewolf,” Dean said as he and Sam returned to the Impala. 

“Or a skinwalker,” Sam said. “But a werewolf fits with the time of death following the lunar cycle.” 

“Time to find out if there was any connection between the two victims,” Dean said getting into the car. 

After asking around a bit it turned out that both victims often visited the same bar. A bar that later appeared to be at the edge of the woods not far from the two places the victims had been found. 

“Is that Jim?” Sam asked looking at a man in his fifties dressed in jeans and a lumberjack shirt. 

“I believe it is,” Dean said looking at the hunter they haven’t seen for a long time who first now noticed the two brothers. 

“Well if it isn’t Sam and Dean,” Jim smiled. “It’s been a long time since last. Are you two working the case here with the two _animal attacks_?” 

“Yes we are,” Sam said. 

“Maybe we should work together then,” Jim suggested.

“Sure why not,” Dean said. “The quicker we get this over with the better.” 

“Great,” Jim smiled.

“Well this is going to be an easy one then. We’re already three people on the case,” he informed. 

“Let me introduce you,” he said gesturing for Sam and Dean to follow him to a car where two other people was going through the trunk. 

“This is Tina,” Jim said gesturing to a woman in her thirties with brown hair. “And Danny,” he said and a man with red hair and about the same age nodded as a greeting. 

“Sam and Dean are working on the same case as us so I’ve asked them to work together with us,” Jim explained. “So far we think it’s werewolf.”

“We thought the same,” Dean said. “Now we just have to find it.”

“Why? Do you want to adopt it?” Tina said not even looking up from the trunk. 

“Excuse me,” Dean said the comment taking him a bit by surprise. 

“I think you heard me clearly enough,” Tina said slamming the trunk shut. “Vamp-lover.” 

“Are we going to have a problem here cause we can take of this ourselves,” Dean snapped. 

“We were here first making it our case,” Tina said crossing her arms glaring at Dean. “And apparently you can’t handle a case like this. We can’t trust someone who sleeps with monsters to actually kill monsters.” 

“Now Tina you shouldn’t listen to those rumors,” Danny said. 

“What rumors?” Sam cautiously asked him and Dean looking at each other having a pretty good idea about what those rumors might be. 

“There’s just some talk that you helped a vampire escape from Arthur and his group and actually kicked their asses,” Jim said looking at Dean smiling apologetically. “Because, and I know how ridiculous this sounds, you were having an affair with that vampire.” 

“Why would Arthur make up a story like that?” Tina interrupted. “It is serious accusation that you wouldn’t use unless it’s true.”

“Cause Arthur and his friends are just so reliable,” Danny interjected. 

“Let’s just clear this up once and for all,” Jim said. “Just tell us that it’s all just a stupid rumor.” 

“Well it’s not a rumor,” Dean said calmly. “We did kick their asses to help my friend, who just happens to be a vampire, escape.”

There was short moment of deafening silence where the three hunters was staring at Dean looking completely dumbfounded.

“W-What?!” Danny stuttered.

“Told you so,” Tina said. 

“Why would you help a vampire?” Danny asked. “And when you said friend…”

“We’re going out if you must know,” Dean said. “And just so you know not all vampires are monsters.”

“He was innocent but Arthur and the other still wouldn’t let him go,” Sam tried to explain in an attempt to not letting the discussion get more out of hand. “So we helped him cause we don’t hunt those who haven’t done anything. No matter what kind of creature they happen to be.” 

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing,” Jim said. “Do you honestly believe that there’s a difference between any of these… things?” 

“Yes,” Dean said defensively. “There are those who kill innocent people like that werewolf we’re after and then there are those who just wants to have a normal life with a normal job and who won’t lay a finger on a human. So are we going to work together on finding that werewolf or not?” 

*

“Two number 12’s and could you make some fresh coffee?” Debbie shouted. 

“Sure,” Benny answered writing down the order before passing it on to the kitchen. 

It had been a busy shift and Benny couldn’t have been happier. He was starting to feel like he was beginning to really settle in in this town. He still preferred keeping himself busy with work when he wasn’t together with Dean but he was feeling more comfortable with being on his own now. 

He was beginning to get to know the town better with the help of Debbie who had showed him around and was helping him with finding somewhere else to live. With a little effort Benny would soon be able to leave that dreadful motel room and find something that he could call his own place. 

This was the closest he had been to have a normal life in a long time and he was prepared to do whatever it took to keep it. 

*

It was strenuous hunt the two groups of hunters initially mistrusting each other but as the hunt went on Dean got to tell more about his side of the story. As it turned out most of the hostility was caused by worry since vampires didn’t exactly have the best reputation. But the more Dean explained the more his fellow hunters seemed to understand and open up to the idea that the world of monsters wasn’t completely black and white and some of them were doing everything to live like normal people no matter how challenging that was. 

Gradually the questions Dean was answering changed from worry to curiosity. Like how was it to be dating a vampire and wasn’t it difficult to make it work.  
Dean wasn’t exactly very comfortable with answering these questions as they were growing more personal not wanting to share to much of his private life with anyone particularly people he barely knew. Still he did answer all questions as good as possible for the sake of letting these people know that some monsters weren’t so different from them. 

The collaboration eventually worked out as the werewolf turned out to be a regular at the bar the victims had visited as well. This guy did indeed turn out to be a real monster merely laughing when he was confronted with the lives he had taken. It wasn’t very difficult putting a silver bullet in his heart. 

When Dean and Sam said goodbye to the other hunters to go back to the bunker Dean had a feeling that he had changed these peoples view just a little bit and maybe that would be a start to give those creatures that wasn’t monsters but not human either a new chance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the über late update real life has been really demanding :3


	8. Chapter 8

“So what do you think?” Debbie asked smiling widely. 

“Looks nice,” Benny said giving the apartment complex Debbie had shown him one final look. 

“But…” Debbie looked at Benny.

“Nice and a little out of my price level,” Benny smiled. “Unless I spend my entire paycheck on rent.”

“Electricity and food is overrated anyway,” Debbie joked. “We’re going to find you somewhere to live but the search is going to wait until later if I am going to have any time to get back before my shift starts.”

“Of course,” Benny said. “Thanks again for helping me out.” 

“No problem,” Debbie said giving Benny a quick hug before tuning on her heals. “See you later.” 

“Bye,” Benny said before walking back to the motel. 

Looking for a new place to live had gotten Benny thinking about the last time he had been trying to start a new life away from the previous and less pleasant one. 

There was a time where settling down with Andrea had appeared like something that could be possible the thought of this attempt at a new life ending just as tragically as the first made Benny a bit anxious. After all this life was looking too good to be true just as his life with Andrea had back then. 

Deep down Benny knew that he was just being a bit paranoid. So much had changed that it wasn’t even possible to compare what was happening in his life now with what had happened back then with Andrea. This time there wasn’t a nest of cruel vampires led by vicious megalomaniac that would rather have one of his _children_ killed then accepting that they wanted to leave. 

Benny had hated his old nest, had hated his maker for what he had done to him and finally Benny had hated himself for what he had kept letting the old man do, for what the nest had kept making him do without fighting back. Sometimes reality even got so twisted that it for short moments had felt like that was how it was supposed to be. 

It was first when Benny had met Andrea he realized how completely wrong that was and Andrea gave him the courage to finally leave. He had been so in love back then that he had been completely convinced that love would keep them safe as well as underestimating what length the old man would go to to punish Benny for leaving. 

Thinking about what had happened to Andrea still made Benny’s stomach twist with guilt. The Andrea he had met when he had gone back to wipe out his old nest with Dean was not the Andrea he had known. The Andrea he had known wouldn’t hurt a fly but would instead have gone out of her way to help others. That Andrea had been turned into a monster because of him, because she had loved him. 

If something happened to Dean because of him Benny wouldn’t be able to live with himself. Of course nothing was going to happen and even if there did Dean was perfectly capable of taking care of himself. No Benny was just being silly for thinking about it but he hadn’t exactly been in luck before so being a little worried about something ruining the peace wasn’t completely misplaced. 

It didn’t exactly help on the bad nerves that Dean was late today. Dean had said that he would be back around dinnertime and now it was getting quite late. 

There was hundreds of reasons to one could be late none of them including any of the horrible scenarios that Benny could imagine. Dean would probably be there any moment but still he could help but look at the clock standing on the nightstand every five minute. 

Benny almost sighed with relief when Dean finally pushed the door open carrying two white plastic bags along with his duffel bag. 

“Sorry I’m late,” he smiled apologetically. 

“Had to take a little detour,” he said placing everything he was carrying on the floor.

“Please don’t make it a habit,” Benny smiled getting up from the bed he had been sitting on to greet Dean with a kiss. “Don’t think my nerves can stand that if it happens to often.” 

“Aw did you worry?” Dean said wrapping his arms around Benny. 

“Are you making fun of me?” Benny chuckled. 

“A bit maybe,” Dean said. “But honestly I like that there’s someone who’s worrying about me. Not that I want you worry but it’s nice having someone…”

“I got the point,” Benny said. 

“I worry about you too,” Dean said giving Benny a kiss on the cheek before letting go of him. 

“So we’re both a couple of paranoid dummies,” Benny said recalling his train of thoughts from the afternoon. 

“Rather paranoid than sorry,” Dean grinned shrugging off his jacket tossing it on the small table. 

“So what was the reason for your detour?” Benny asked. 

“Well I did promise you to get you some new blood supplies,” Dean said nodding towards the plastic bags. 

“Oh yeah,” Benny said his face lighting up. He hadn’t had anything to eat all day. 

“Yeah there was a little problem with the hospital so I had to swing by a butcher instead,” Dean explained. “Hope you don’t mind.” 

“Oh,” Benny mumbled not completely able to hide his disappointment. 

“I’m really sorry,” Dean said.

“Hey it’s okay,” Benny said trying to smile reassuringly. “It not like I can afford to be choosy. It’ll just have to make do.” 

“You can have some of my blood if it…” Dean began.

“No!” Benny interrupted. “I mean that’s very sweet of you but I’ll just stick to the animal blood.” 

“Want to try it out?” Dean asked reaching for one of the plastic bags. 

“Why not,” Benny said starring at the plastic container with red liquid staining the sides that Dean pulled out of the bag. 

“Would you like a spoon or something?” Dean asked handing Benny the container both of them sitting down on the bed. 

“I’ll manage,” Benny said removing the lid grimacing at the smell. Just as mouthwatering human blood was just as repulsive animal blood was. 

“What is it even?” Benny asked cautiously sipping from the container. 

“Pigs blood,” Dean said. “I think.”

“You think,” Benny coughed. 

“I just asked for blood,” Dean said giving Benny a sympathetic look. “Is it that bad? I don’t even know what I’m supposed to compare it with.” 

“Not exactly sure how to explain it either,” Benny said before trying to swallow a mouthful gaging as the sticky fluid got caught in his throat. 

“I guess it’s like drinking really muddy, dirty water instead of clean water,” Benny explained. “Necessary to survive but it still makes you feel sick.”

“I’m going to give the hospital another try soon,” Dean promised. “Just hang in there.” 

“Well ain’t the worst thing I’ve had,” Benny said gulping down another mouthful. “I did end up running low on blood after the whole Carencro thing since I couldn’t find anywhere to get any and I finally got so hungry that I ended up eating a couple of rats which I’ll hopefully never have to again cause that was very disgusting.”

“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” Dean said. 

“I’ll survive,” Benny smiled. “Besides everything have improved now even when the food occasionally ain’t exactly as I want it.” 

“Yeah,” Dean grinned snaking an arm around Benny’s waist. “Things don’t look to bad right now don’t they?”

“Things are pretty perfect,” Benny said hoping that they would stay way.


	9. Chapter 9

“And so it turned out that the spoon had just slipped behind the drawer,” Benny said thus ending the not very dramatic story about the diner’s missing soup spoon. 

“Good you found it,” Dean said unable to keep a huge goofy smile from spreading across his face. Dean and Benny had been lying in bed most of the evening just cuddling and talking Benny telling about everything that had happened at the diner both small and even smaller incidents. It was nice for a change listening to simple everyday occurrences where the worst that could happen was when something went missing or when people were late. Benny appeared to be just as happy telling about his mundane workday as Dean was listening about it. 

“Got money saved up for that apartment you were talking about yet?” Dean asked moving a hand down Benny’s arm letting it rest on his hip instead. 

“Almost,” Benny smiled moving his head a little so their noses were touching. “Might even be able to buy furniture if I take a few extra shifts.”

“You sure are hard-working,” Dean said closing the small gap between them kissing Benny. 

“You’re working and contributing to society and everything,” he said pulling back to look at Benny who was smiling shyly. “I’m proud of you.” 

“It’s nothing,” Benny said quietly. 

It was quite something in Dean’s opinion. Benny had been through so many horrible things that Dean hadn’t been completely sure if he would be able to manage a job but as it turned out getting a job had really been good for Benny. It wasn’t like Dean didn’t knew perfectly well how empty the world could feel if you didn’t have anything to do and you didn’t have anything but time to think about every bad thing that had happened in your life. 

Of course Dean should have known that Benny would be able to care of himself after all he had managed to get through bad times before. It was just that Dean wanted to protect Benny and maybe Dean had even been a little over-protecting. 

Much had changed in that time they had been together. Benny had gotten better Dean had noticed. The nightmares were further apart and Benny had gotten less twitchy about touching at the moment seeming to be comfortable enough with Dean running his fingertips over the small stripe of bare skin on his waist where his shirt had curled up a bit.

Actually Dean thought that everything was pretty damn perfect. 

Dean kissed Benny again slowly rolling onto his back pulling slightly at Benny to make him move with him. Hesitantly Benny followed Dean’s movements ending on top of him. 

Dean ran his fingers though Benny’s hair kissing him a bit more vigorously looking up at the vampire with a big smile when they ended the kiss. 

Slowly Dean tilted his head back figuring that Benny would get the hint. 

“Are… Are you really sure you want me to do that?” Benny asked looking a bit worried. “After what happened last time.”

“Yes,” Dean said smiling reassuringly. “I trust you.” 

Benny leaned closer placing a chaste kiss on Dean’s throat before getting a bit more confident as one kiss turned into many. 

Dean sighed moving his hands down to rest on Benny’s back feeling completely relaxed as Benny’s lips moved across the skin of his throat and neck. 

It felt good the tingling sensation spreading from the area on Dean’s neck through his entire body making some other areas one in particular stir to life growing in line with Dean’s excitement. 

Benny probably noticed this as well as he suddenly pulled away from Dean moving as far away as possible without falling out of the bed looking slightly panicked. 

“I’m sorry,” he said voice trembling slightly. 

“What?” Dean asked for a moment confused about what exactly had happened. 

“Why are you apologizing?” he said as what was going on started to make sense to him. 

“I should be the one saying sorry,” Dean said sitting up pulling his knees up to his chin in an unconscious attempt to cover up his erection though there wasn’t really anything to hide now that the atmosphere had changes completely. “I didn’t want to freak you out,” he said. 

“It’s all right,” Benny mumbled biting his bottom lip avoiding eye contact. “Guess I just… Overreacted.” 

“Hey are you okay?” Dean asked immediately mentally kicking himself for asking such a stupid question. Of course Benny wasn’t okay. 

“Can I ask you something?” Dean added after a moment of silence.

“Sure,” Benny said quietly as if expecting the question to be unpleasant. 

“Have you ever been with a guy before?” Dean asked wondering if Benny’s reaction might just have been a case of uncertainty. 

“Yes,” Benny said digging his fingers into the sheet. “It’s just… It’s not exactly good memories. He wasn’t as nice as you are.” 

Realization hit Dean like a freight train. All this time Benny hadn’t been hesitating because he was afraid of hurting Dean. It was because someone had hurt him. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t…” Dean began trailing of not sure what to say. 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he finally asked. 

“I guess I just hoped that it wouldn’t matter and I could just start over and forget about it,” Benny said. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Dean offered. 

“No,” Benny said. “And don’t get me wrong it’s not that I don’t want you like that I really do. I… I don’t know what’s wrong me. It was so long ago and I’m just being stupid.” 

“You’re not,” Dean interrupted. “And you don’t have to apologize or explain anything and if you need time or space or anything I’ll give you as much as you need.” 

“But I…” 

“No buts,” Dean said again interrupting. “You’re not going to do something you don’t want to for my sake so if something is going to happen it’s when you want to alright?” 

“Alright,” Benny said a small smile appearing on his face as he moved a bit closer to Dean. 

Dean reached for him taking his hand and slowly they ended up in the same position as before lying face to face with the arms around each other. 

“Hey Dean,” Benny said nuzzling against Dean’s shoulder. 

“Yeah,” Dean said. 

“Thank you,” Benny said. 

“You don’t have to thank me,” Dean said.

“But I’m doing it anyway,” Benny smiled. “Cause I’m thankful that I got someone like you.” 

“And here I was thinking that I should be the one to be thankful,” Dean said tightening his embrace a bit.

“Maybe we should just agree that it was a good thing we found each other,” Benny said.

That Dean would agree with fully.


	10. Chapter 10

Benny sighed looking out of the window of the motel room that he was still residing in. The sun was shining from a cloud free sky and was, as the early spring sun so often was, really sharp which meant that Benny wasn’t going outside without a particular good reason. It was painful enough just looking at the spot on the floor where the sun was making a bright square through the window. 

As it just happened to be Benny didn’t have anything even remotely important to do this day. He didn’t have to work before tomorrow which he thought was quite unfortunate as he would have liked something to keep his mind preoccupied. 

Something had felt a bit of when Dean had left to help his brother with a case mostly because Benny had been feeling weird after what had happened a couple of days ago, Benny still blamed himself for overreacting, and the subsequent conversation that had gotten way to close to things that Benny would wish he could forget. 

Of course Dean had been picking up on Benny’s mood having done everything to make it better and Benny was infinitely grateful for all of Dean’s effort but something still didn’t seem right with him even now several days later. 

Benny turned his attention to the mp3 player he had borrowed from Debbie and that he ought to return sometime in the very near future. Debbie had a pretty peculiar taste in music and Benny didn’t really like most of it but right now it was welcome noise distracting from feelings and thoughts that despite being plenty felt like they were bouncing around in a lot of emptiness. 

Maybe he should just tell Dean everything that had happened to him in his old life with his old nest. Except that was going to be a sadly long story and Benny wasn’t even sure he could get half of the words past his lips. 

In a way it didn’t even made sense to be thinking of that because of Dean cause Dean was nothing like that. Dean’s warm, gentle touch couldn’t be compared with those ice cold hands that did whatever they wanted. Dean looked at him affectionately not like Benny was his property and what Dean did to help him was because he actually cared about Benny and not because he expected something in return.

Perhaps he just needed to pull himself together it happened so long ago so why did it still take up such a big part of his mind?

He was free now and was never going back so it was about damned time to put it all behind him. It was easier said than done but he wanted to move on, needed to move on. For Dean and for himself. He could do this he had survived so many other things so it should be possible to get over this as well. 

Benny sat up in the bed he had been lying on suddenly feeling motivated to do something. Anything. 

Maybe anything that didn’t involve going outside. A good starting point could be to remove that piece of paper he had nailed to the ceiling. Not trying to hide everything that reminded him of his past sounded like a very good starting point as Benny decided that from now on it wasn’t going to matter anymore and it wasn’t going to influence him anymore. 

Besides, he rationalized it was about time to remove the paper anyway since he hopefully wasn’t going to stay at the motel for much longer. 

With the paper gone Benny laid back down on the bed for a moment wondering why he had made such a fuss about that crack in the first place. It didn’t even look very much like that crack from that house his old nest once had stayed at. Now it was just an ordinary crack in the ceiling that he didn’t have to spend any more time thinking about ever again. 

On the spur of the moment now that everything was looking so positive Benny decided to send Dean a text just to tell him that he missed him and couldn’t wait till Dean got back. 

Benny wasn’t completely sure whether Dean would appreciate it as Benny still felt that he was just disturbing him with something silly but tried to justifying it with practicing in texting as he was hopelessly slow at texting anything on a cellphone. 

To his astonishment Dean called him sounding way more excited than Benny would have expected. 

“Hey Benny good to hear from you,” Dean said. 

“H-hey,” Benny said still a little surprised. “I’m not disturbing am I am?” Because the last thing Benny wanted was to interrupt Dean’s work especially when it wasn’t something important. 

“Not at all,” Dean assured. “Just on a stake-out. It’s pretty boring actually been sitting here for hours now without anything happening.” 

“Sounds pretty boring,” Benny smiled. 

“It’s part of the job,” Dean said. “Can’t be excitement all the time.” 

“What are keeping an eye on?” Benny asked. 

“A couple of witches,” Dean said. “They have a grudge against some people in the town that they think have wronged them so we’re waiting at the next victim’s house for them to show up.” 

“Hope they show up soon,” Benny said. 

“Well the waiting time suddenly isn’t so bad now,” Dean said and Benny could just imagine the way Dean would smile while saying that. 

“I’m glad you texted me,” Dean added his voice a bit more subdued and serious. 

“I’m glad you called me,” Benny said. “I miss you.” 

“I miss you too… Stop laughing!” 

“What?” 

“It’s just Sam,” Dean said sounding a bit flustered. “He says hi by the way.” 

“Oh,” Benny smiled. “Um tell him I said hi too.” 

This was the first time he’d gotten any recognition from Dean’s brother and that felt like a big step in the right direction. Sam was an important person to Dean so his acceptance meant a lot. 

“I’ll tell him,” Dean said. “You’re not working today?” 

“No,” Benny said. “Don’t have anything to do today so guess it makes me a bit restless.” 

“I know what you mean,” Dean said and for moment there was a short pause where words wasn’t necessary. They both knew the feeling that came when there was nothing to do. 

“Shit I have to go now,” Dean suddenly said. “The witches are here but it was really good to hear from you. I’ll call you back as soon as I can.”

“Okay take care,” Benny said the phone clicking before it went silent. 

Benny felt strangely calm after his talk with Dean lying down getting comfortable on the bed. Kind of as if the weather had been threatening with a storm all day but in the end it had cleared up without even a single breeze. 

Benny closed his eyes soon falling into a peaceful sleep.

*

Benny was woken up by his cellphone ringing. First he thought that it was Dean but the display showed Debbie’s number.

“Hey,” Benny said answering the phone. 

“Hi Benny,” Debbie said sounding cheerful. “Are you doing anything important at the moment?” 

“Can’t say I am,” Benny said thinking that Debbie probably was going to ask if he could take an extra shift at the diner. The sun wasn’t as sharp now as it had been earlier so going outside didn’t seem that uncomfortable anymore. 

“I think I might have found the perfect apartment for you,” Debbie said. “You want to come take a look?”

“Of course,” Benny said smiling. “I’ll be right on my way.”

“Great meet me in front of the diner,” Debbie said before hanging up. 

Benny got up grabbing his coat thinking that this day really had ended up going in the right direction before closing the motel room door behind him.


	11. Chapter 11

When Benny told him that he had finally found an apartment Dean initially feared that it was some ramshackle hole in the wall place. An odd fear considering that that was a pretty good description of the motel room Benny had been living in recently. But now that Dean was standing in the living room of Benny’s new place he found that all his worries were unfounded. 

It wasn’t exactly a new building but it was well maintained and decent looking. 

Since Benny hadn’t acquired any furniture yet the living room was almost empty with the exception of a hideous green couch that was a remnant from the previous occupants, an up-side-down milk crate Benny had nicked from the diner that served as a makeshift coffee table and a lonely cactus in the windowsill. 

“What do you think?” Benny asked smiling widely. 

“It looks like a pretty sweet place,” Dean said taking a few more steps into the living room. 

“Are you going to give me the grand tour?” he asked a bit curious to see what the other rooms were like. 

“Sure,” Benny said his smile growing even bigger. “So there’s the bathroom on the right and the kitchen on the left.” 

Dean inspected the reasonable sized kitchen that was equipped with a dated fridge and stove. 

“And last but not least the bedroom,” Benny said taking Dean’s hand guiding him to the last room of the apartment. 

Calling it a bedroom might have been a bit of a stretch since it didn’t contain an actual bed. Instead there was a fairly battered mattress on the floor as well as two small piles of clothes one with clothes stacked neatly and one with clothes lying in a messy heap. 

“Looks like you’ve got off to a good start here,” Dean said feeling happy for Benny. 

“Yeah,” Benny smiled. “It’s nice having some place to call my own.”

“You know sleeping on the floor isn’t going to work in the long run,” Dean said. 

“Ain’t that bad,” Benny argued. “At least there’s something to make the floor a bit more comfortable and it’s not like I haven’t tried much worse so I’ll probably survive a couple of weeks without a bed. But a bed is on top of the list of things to get.” 

“Fine let’s go get you a bed,” Dean said cheerfully. 

“What now?!” Benny sputtered surprised. 

“You got other plans?” Dean asked. 

“No but I don’t have any money either,” Benny answered. “Kind of spend most of the savings on getting my own roof.” 

“My treat,” Dean said. 

Benny opened his mouth about to protest when Dean interrupted him. 

“And don’t give me that it’s too much or something,” he said. “I want to give you something. We can just call it a housewarming gift.” 

“It’s just you’ve already done so much for me,” Benny said quietly. 

“Well you don’t get to decide when I’ve done enough,” Dean proclaimed. “Besides I can’t miss the opportunity to show of my amazing handyman skills.” 

Dean smiled when Benny laughed at his bad joke. Benny really had a nice laughter that Dean thought he didn’t hear often enough. 

“Okay okay,” Benny said. “I guess I really can’t miss that.” 

“It’s very impressive you won’t be disappointed,” Dean smiled. “Do you have any idea where we can find the nearest Ikea?” 

“Not at all,” Benny chuckled. “I’ll try asking Debbie.” 

“You can do that from the car,” Dean said as Benny began searching for his phone. 

“Yes just a second,” Benny mumbled gathering phone, keys and coat. “And I’m ready.”

“Awesome,” Dean said holding the door. “Let’s go.”

*

“When you said that you had awesome handyman skills I kind of thought you were joking,” Benny said sitting in due distance of Dean to not get in the way watching him putting pieces together with screws and bolts. 

“I wouldn’t joke about any of my skills,” Dean smirked. “But the part about it being something spectacular you couldn’t miss wasn’t meant that seriously.” 

“I happen to think that it’s highly spectacular to watch,” Benny smiled. “You look like you’ve done this many times before.”

“Well I did have a relationship with a girl once where we moved in together and I usually got the putting furniture together job,” Dean explained. “So I got some experience there. I’m also pretty great at putting up shelf if you need that.” 

“Was that also where you learned the difference between bed linen that look completely alike to the rest of us,” Benny teased. 

“That is exactly where I learned about bed linen,” Dean said waving a screwdriver as a teacher would wave a pointer. “Got a lot of great tips about all that stuff you need in a home.” 

“You never told me you lived with a girl,” Benny said. 

“It’s some time ago now,” Dean said. “Her name was Lisa by the way. Longest relationship I’ve ever had though I’m working on changing that.” 

Benny smiled at the insinuation. 

“So what happened to her?” he asked. 

“Hunting got in the way,” Dean said thinking back at the time that he had spent with Lisa most of the memories being happy ones. 

“When she and I moved in together I sort of had hit a low point in my life,” Dean told not wanting to go into too many details about how he had thought that his brother was forever trapped in hell. 

“But she took care of me,” he continued. “And we were pretty happy for some time and I thought that I was never going to hunt again but… the hunting life caught up to me and we just couldn’t make that work.” 

“Being a hunter is a demanding lifestyle I guess,” Benny said.

“It definitely requires some sacrifices,” Dean said sounding a bit sad. “And it’s not a lifestyle you can just quit believe me I’ve tried.” 

“Don’t want you to,” Benny assured. “That’s what makes you something special the way you care about others.”

“You think I’m special,” Dean smiled trying to sound nonchalant though Benny’s words genuinely made him feel a bit warm and fuzzy. 

“You’re special to me,” Benny said. “And I don’t want you to change at all no matter how many compromises it’s going to take. I’m just happy that you’re here.” 

“So um…” Dean began after a short moment of silence. “What about you? I’ve been wondering about this for some time. If you have a great great granddaughter that must mean you’ve had a kid. Who is the mom? It’s not Andrea is it?” 

“No the kids, I had two a boy and girl, that was before I became a vampire,” Benny said. “And the mother was… my wife.” 

“You’re wife?” Dean said lifting an eyebrow. “Why doesn’t that surprise me at all?” 

“It’s a part of my life I barely remember now,” Benny said. “It’s just so long ago. It kind of fells like dream. Her name was Jessamine and it’s really embarrassing to admit but I really don’t remember much about her. It was like after I was turned those memories started to fade in favor of my new existence.” 

“Really no clear memories at all?” Dean asked a bit surprised. 

“I remember she was kind,” Benny smiled appearing to be lost in thoughts. “She was really good with the kids, she used to sing a lot… I think I used to pick flowers for her and that made her very happy.” 

“Sounds like you were happy,” Dean said. 

“I think I was,” Benny said. “But it was a very long time ago so I just can’t understand how I can be so lucky to find one more that makes me feel this happy.” 

There were another brief moment of silence as it felt like any more words weren’t necessary before the conversation turned to all the other things Benny would need to acquire for the apartment. There was a minor disagreement about whether a TV or a laundry basket should be highest on the wish list. 

“There,” Dean said smiling proudly standing up to look at his handiwork. 

“Not bad huh?” Dean smirked. 

“Not bad at all,” Benny said standing next to Dean. “You can get the putting furniture together job here if you want.” 

“I would be insulted if I didn’t,” Dean chuckled wrapping an arm around Benny’s waist. 

“It’s starting to look a bit like a real home,” Benny said resting his head against Dean’s shoulder. 

“Sure does,” Dean said. “And I’m just glad that I can help you build it.”


	12. Chapter 12

Dean had to acknowledge that in the state it was in now Benny’s apartment was pretty boring. He had to entertain himself while Benny was at work and there really wasn’t anything to do except for sleeping and spying on the neighbors. That was all good and fun for a few hours but at some point it got very tedious keeping an eye on who entered the building and who left it. 

Originally Dean hadn’t intended staying for this long as there was still work to do and cases to solve but after having talked to Sam who insisted that he could handle it all himself and delegate the rest to other hunters across the country he ended up extending his stay with Benny. 

Of course Benny offered to skip his shift pretending he was sick but Dean wouldn’t hear any of that not wanting Benny to get into anything even remotely close to trouble because off him. Besides Dean had been convinced that he could easily entertain himself and he had told Benny that he didn’t have to think about him. 

Dean groaned rolling onto his back stretching his arms and legs appreciating that he at least had a comfortable bed he could relax on while he tried to pass the time. He checked the clock again and was relieved that it couldn’t be that long before Benny would be back. 

He closed his eyes not able to keep a small smile from appearing on his face. It was a very long time ago since he last had the time or felt safe enough for that matter to feel bored. There was no imminent danger or any creepy things that should be kept at bay or hunted down. Actually being bored for a change wasn’t that bad. 

Dean almost fell asleep again when he heard the sound of keys rattling and the click of a door being opened. 

“Do you have any idea about how much I’ve missed you?” Dean said getting up from the bed heading for the living room. 

“Maybe just as much as I’ve missed you,” Benny said smiling brightly at Dean. 

“I’m really sorry that I left you alone all that time,” Benny said.

“Gee you make it sound like you left me in some cave for years,” Dean chuckled. “And as I recall it I told you to go. You’re after all the one of us who has an actual job to take care of.”

“I still fell a bit bad,” Benny smiled sheepishly. “I hope bringing you some food would help a bit.”

“Food makes everything better,” Dean said. 

“Yeah I know you like pie,” Benny said. “So I got you an apple one and…”

“You have pie!” Dean exclaimed. “Well then everything is completely forgotten. Didn’t even notice you were gone.” 

“Good to know that pie can be used to buy forgiveness,” Benny laughed handing Dean a small plastic bag. 

“Hope you don’t mind eating with a plastic fork,” he said. 

“I would be fine eating it with my fingers,” Dean said giving Benny a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’m pretty hungry.” 

“Maybe I should have gotten you some actual food then,” Benny said. 

“Nope,” Dean said getting comfortable on the couch. “Pie is completely perfect. You made an excellent choice.” 

“Nice to know that I make some of those occasionally,” Benny said getting a bag of blood from the fridge. 

“What? You make way more good choices than I do,” Dean said unwrapping the pie. “You’re amazing.”

“Are you talking to me or the pie now?” Benny chuckled sitting down next Dean.

“Both,” Dean smiled mouth full of pastry. “You’re both pretty amazing. Anyway how was work?” 

“Mostly like it usually is,” Benny shrugged. “Nothing out of the ordinary happened. How was your day?”

“Um relaxing,” Dean said. “I think that’s the best word.” 

“I’m sorry.” 

“Enough with the ‘I’m sorrys’ already,” Dean laughed. 

“I think it’s a reflex,” Benny smiled. “I’m sorry I can’t help it.” 

“That’s a bad habit,” Dean said. “One you definitely should try to get rid of.” 

“I’ll put it on my to do list,” Benny said discarding the now empty blood bag. 

“You have a long to do list?” Dean asked. 

“Maybe,” Benny smiled. “Maybe I have a lot of plans.” 

“Are they secret?” Dean asked swallowing the another mouthful of pie. 

“Not really,” Benny said. “Just want to improve and be a better person, for you for me I… I just want to do everything better.” 

“Think you’re doing pretty damn fine,” Dean said placing a hand on Benny’s shoulder. “I’m amazed at what you’ve put together in such a small amount of time.” 

And after all you’ve been through Dean thought. 

Benny smiled almost shyly mumbling something that Dean couldn’t precisely make out but he got the gist of it. 

“Well um…” Dean mumbled himself withdrawing his hand. 

“Well your place could use a few additions,” he said in attempt to say something that could lighten up the slightly awkward mood. 

“What could you possibly need when you have perfectly white, bare walls to look at?” Benny asked. 

“I don’t know,” Dean smiled. “Maybe something that is just a bit more entertaining to look at.” 

“I don’t understand why you don’t like my walls,” Benny jested. “But I guess I better get a few more things.” 

When they had finished eating Dean volunteered to clean up and throw away the garbage feeling like that was the least he could do having done nothing all day. It was first when he was sitting comfortably in the couch again that he realized that he had just thrown away an empty bag of blood, empty because the contents had been eaten, and he hadn’t thought of it as weird or unpleasant. In fact he hadn’t thought about it at all. 

Now that he thought about it, it dawned on him that he didn’t even think about Benny being a vampire anymore and all those little things that would set him apart from humans, the blood-drinking, the not eating anything else, the constant ice-cold hands that had all become normal to Dean now. 

“What are you smiling at?” Benny asked.

“Nothing in particular,” Dean just answered wrapping an arm around Benny pulling him closer both of them soon rearranging themselves so that Dean was leaning against the armrest with Benny leaning against him while Dean had his arms wrapped tightly around Benny. 

“You’re comfortable?” Dean asked. 

“Yeah,” Benny said twining his fingers with Dean’s. “It’s perfect.”

It really felt perfect Dean thought. Right now everything just felt nice, calm and perfect. He hoped that it would stay like that for a very long time.


End file.
